Recipes
Parmesan shortbread with pesto, slow roast tomato & feta
These crunchy Parmesan shortbreads are delicious on their own, but when topped with homemade pesto, slow roasted tomatoes and feta, they are sublime. All the elements can be made two days before and assembled when needed. Just be sure to...
Smoked salmon mousse on cucumber cups
Light as air lemony salmon mousse on cool cucumber. And so easy to make! The mousse can be made the day before, and the cucumber cut a day ahead and stored in the fridge. Assemble up to a couple of...
Dates stuffed with goats cheese, pistachios & pomegranate seeds
Serves 4 approx as part of a canape selection These decadent Medjool dates take moments to prepare, but are so delicious and look beautiful. The Medjool date is the king of dates in both taste and size, with a chewy...
Aubergine Caviar on Crostini
Serves 4 generously – feel free to halve or double! A beautiful vegetarian canapé that can be made up to 3 days in advance, and then assembled on the day. It’s so flavourful and delicious, it can be likened to...
Jazzies
Makes approx 60 jazzies The Seeding MethodThe seeding method is one way of tempering chocolate that is great for small quantities of chocolate and for home environments that require minimal mess and equipment.
Courgette, garlic & chilli crostini
This easy, healthy but-so-delicious courgette dip is gorgeous on crostini or pairs beautifully with crisps or cucumber to dunk. Perfect with drinks and the best way to start an evening. Prepare well ahead so it has time to chill –...
Roast beetroot & goats cheese salad with maple roasted spicy nuts
Roasting beetroots is so easy and the beautiful earthy flavour works so well with the candied nuts, bitter leaves and creamy tangy goats cheese. All the elements can be prepared well in advance and put together quickly before serving. This...
Beef daube
This stunning Provençal beef casserole is lovely to have with friends. Make it on Saturday morning to enjoy in the evening or on Sunday – it also freezes beautifully. The long, slow cook makes the beef meltingly soft, and this...
Apple & cherry flapjack pudding
This pudding can also double up as a treat for morning coffee. The crunchy oat topping flavoured with cinnamon is a breeze to whizz together. I use frozen cherries (bonus of no stones) and the apples are roughly chopped –...
Squash, Caramelised Onion and Feta Filo Pie
Filo pastry is tricky to handle as it dries out as soon as you look away from it, so have a damp tea towel/kichen roll handy to cover it if needed – and ensure that all the other ingredients are...
Apple and Rhubarb Lattice Pie
You will need a nice deep pie dish (26cm) and a pastry brush I have made this pie with two types of pastry – shortcrust for the base and puff for the latticed top. It works just as well with...
Easy Fish Pie
Supermarkets sell ‘fish pie mix’ containing pre-cut chunks of salmon, cod and smoked haddock, which works well, but feel free to choose your own selection. I like to go for a white fish, a smoked type and something with a...
Cod with Smokey Black Bean Cassoulet
This gloriously satisfying but healthy dinner is so delicious and really easy to prep. Sweet cod, married with deeply savoury smokey black beans, is heaven on a plate. Prepare the cassoulet in advance if you want – even the day...
Homemade Nutty Granola with Berries & Greek Yoghurt
This a super delicious healthy granola, and so tasty you can enjoy with yoghurt, fruit, milk or even as quick snack on its own. It is so much healthier than the shop bought ones as it has very little sugar...
Watercress Soup with Cannellini Beans
I love the peppery flavour of watercress, which is also incredibly good for you. The cannellini beans, for fibre and protein, create a warming hearty meal of soup. This freezes beautifully so it’s a good one to have on standby. ...
Lemon Roast Chicken with Pomegranate Molasses & Cauliflower on a Bed of Lentils
This dish sounds fancy, but it’s so simple, totally flexible and utterly flavoursome, filling and feel good food. Pulses are so good for our health and longevity. These little lentils vertes are simply boiled while the chicken roasts, and then...
Perfect Prep
Mark Charker, Head Chef at The Bell in Ticehurst, explains how to take the stress out of Christmas cooking by getting some prep work in early All this prep leaves only cooking your festive centerpiece on the big day, and...
Tomato Sauce
Having an easy and delicious tomato sauce on hand, or in the freezer, means that you will always be able to rustle up a quick pasta dish, pizza, or even a flavoursome tomato base for a ratatouille or caponata. Large...
Tomato Tarte Tatin
This is just an upside down tart, most often found in apple form, but for a simple – and it really is simple – savoury version, it works brilliantly with tomatoes, because (in theory at least), the pastry will stay...
Stuffed Tomatoes
The risotto in this recipe is a worthy dish on its own, but stuffing it into a big beefsteak tomato and baking in the oven turns it into something special. A stuffed tomato make a good starter, light lunch or...
Strawberry, Rhubarb & Rosewater Parfait
Depending on how you sell it, this dessert could be called a fool or even a mousse. It’s not quite the season for rhubarb or strawberries, so do use frozen if fresh are not available/up to much. This recipe can...
King Prawn Linguine
This is a fresh tasting and not too filling pasta dish that is really quick and easy to put together. It does contain garlic, which is fine as long as you are both eating it. The quantities are easily doubled...
Cheese Fondue
Unfashionable? Maybe. Cheesy? Definitely! But a fondue is such fun – and the ultimate sharing food. What could be better on a cold February day than dipping crusty bread and crudités into a delicious blend of melted cheese and alcohol?...
Nougat
1. Roast the nuts on three baking sheets at 160˚C for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Take out the oven and leave to cool. 2. Put 400g of the sugar in a thick-bottomed saucepan with the glucose and 125ml...
Pan Seared Scallops, Cauliflower & Crispy Chicken Skin
For the cauliflower: 1. Cut the cauliflower into florets. 2. Slice 2 large florets thinly on a mandolin and place in a separate container. Add 100ml white wine vinegar over the sliced florets and 60g caster sugar. Carefully stir, ensuring...
Hot Smoked Salmon
This dish is a real crowd pleaser and centrepiece showstopper. The delicate smoky flavour combines perfectly with freshness of the dill and lime. It is extremely versatile – have it on Christmas morning with scrambled eggs and muffins, whip up...
Raspberries Baked with a Pecan, Cinnamon & Oat Crumb Topping
The speediest but most delicious pudding you can imagine. The topping is made in the time it takes to melt the butter. It can be made in advance and happily kept in the fridge. Using frozen raspberries means there is...
Warm Crab & Horseradish Dip with Homemade Tostaditas
This utterly sublime crab dip takes 3 mins to put together, perfect for having with drinks. I’ve paired it with homemade tostaditas, which can be made a few days in advance and stored in an airtight container (or simply serve...
Dauphinoise Potatoes
This is a glorious creamy potato dish, flavoured with Gruyère cheese and garlic. It can be cooked the day before and simply reheated when ready to serve. It’s super quick to make if you use a food processor. The slicer...
Beef Carpaccio
This is a wonderful way to enjoy fillet of beef. The perfect entertaining dish, as it can all be cooked in advance, makes the beef go a long way and is gorgeous with big salads, or hearty potato dishes such...
Black Cat, Bat & Toothsome Cupcakes
These are surprisingly easy to make – to be quite honest, any combination of ghoulishly coloured icing and lurid sweets will go down well. Let your imagination run wild and get monstrously creative. Pre-heat oven to gas 4/160˚C. Line cupcake...
Creepy Pizzas
If you don’t want to go to the bother of making your own pizza dough, there are kits available (near the ready rolled pastry at most supermarkets), and even part baked pizza bases and tomato topping. They can be circular...
Jack O’ Lantern Chicken Pies
These pies are scarily simple to put together and can be made to suit the size of the pie dishes you have to hand – make cute individual servings or one big pie. These are made with sweet potato and...
Goats’ cheese, nectarine & Parma ham salad
This is a light, but filling and nutritious pasta dish. Anchovy brings a subtle, salty umami taste (undetectable as anchovy), and underpins the flavours – but leave out if you want to make this a vegetarian option.
Blackberry & hazelnut mini baked Alaskas
Hints of autumn suffuse this version of the classic ice-cream cake. I’ve made 4 mini Alaskas here, but the recipe should adapt to one larger (which might stay solid in the middle for longer). This is not difficult to make,...
Lemony linguine with kale, walnuts & anchovy
This is a light, but filling and nutritious pasta dish. Anchovy brings a subtle, salty umami taste (undetectable as anchovy), and underpins the flavours – but leave out if you want to make this a vegetarian option.
Endive, orange & mozzarella salad with balsamic dressing
Endive, orange & mozzarella salad with balsamic dressing This easy salad is so quick to put together and is utterly gorgeous. The slight bitterness of these small red endives complement the sweetness of the orange. Add beautiful creamy mozzarella, and...
Oven roasted cod with feta & Mediterranean vegetables
This one-dish gorgeous garlicky fish recipe is packed with Mediterranean flavours, all prepped in 15 mins! It can happily be assembled in advance on the day and sit in the fridge until you are ready to cook. This serves 4...
Butternut squash with roasted Mediterranean vegetables & goats’ cheese
This is a stunning vegetarian main course that can be made in advance and sat in the fridge ready to go in the oven. You can even roast the squash and veg a couple of days before your guests arrive,...
Hazelnut meringue gateau with strawberry Chantilly cream & berries
This glorious nutty gateau is perfect for entertaining as it can be made a couple of days in advance, and simply assembled before serving. It is not a pavlova, so do not expect a crunchy meringue, but something more chewy....
Turkey Ropa Vieja
Add some zest to your festive spread with Nicci Gurr’s colourful Christmas Turkey Ropa Vieja, inspired by her bountiful smallholding and created using locally sourced and free-range ingredients
Spiral seasonal tart
Add some zest to your festive spread with Nicci Gurr’s colourful Christmas Spiral seasonal tart, inspired by her bountiful smallholding and created using locally sourced and free-range ingredients
Sweet & sour baked ham
Add some zest to your festive spread with Nicci Gurr’s colourful Christmas Sweet & sour baked ham, inspired by her bountiful smallholding and created using locally sourced and free-range ingredients
Coffee and cardamon (no-churn) ice-cream
This is adapted from Diana Henry’s recipe and is the simplest ice cream I’ve ever made. Actually, I don’t make much ice-cream, as the thought of having another kitchen-clogging machine puts me off, but the addition of a single ingredient...
Easy Monkfish curry
This curry can be made with any firm white fish and if you make the sauce in advance and refrigerate overnight (or freeze until needed) it can be made very quickly. Add all the spices and oil to a heavy-based...
